You can’t wait to move into your new home. You’ve done everything imaginable to make your property as move-in ready as possible, from replacing worn carpet to scrubbing kitchen tiles and cabinets. You even hired a professional to repaint the walls so the interior looks like new.
But though you’ve prepped your home for your family to finally live in, have you taken precautions for the move itself?
Heavy boxes, bulky furniture, and heavy foot traffic can create the perfect recipe for damage. Carelessly stacked boxes could rub at your new paint. An awkwardly moved armchair could leave a gash in your wall. And as guests bump elbows in tight hallways, you may see chipped corners and dents that weren’t there before.
Fortunately, you can minimize damage to your walls when you take the following precautions.
1. Wrap Furniture in Plastic
Some types of furniture can take a beating and come away without a scratch. Your sturdy sofa, your hardwood table, and your computer desk have seen a lot of use over the years, and they still look as solid as the day you bought them.
Just because your furniture can handle the move doesn’t mean your walls can. If your items have any sharp corners or rough edges, wrap them in protective plastic or cover them with soft towels or blankets. If you see any moving pieces (such as dresser drawers or armoire doors), secure them with child-safety latches or bungee cords.
2. Cushion Corners With Corner Guards
Wall corners can bear the brunt of the damage during a move. As you squeeze lengthy couches and tall dressers around the bend, you may find your furniture wedged tightly against a corner and the wall. If you’re lucky, you can push and pull your larger pieces without too much effort. But if you’re not, your wall corner or your furniture (or both) may give under the strain.
To keep your corners in like-new condition, consider cushioning them with a corner guard. You can choose wooden, plastic, or even steel corner guards that blend naturally with the rest of your home while providing superior impact resistance.
Looking for a less permanent solution? You can wrap your corners in bubble wrap or cardboard and secure them with painter’s tape. Painter’s tape offers just enough adhesive to support these protective materials and will cleanly come away from your walls when you’ve finished.
3. Hang Sheets in Hallways
Building codes require that hallways have a minimum width of 36 inches. While this measurement works well when you want to walk from your bedroom to the bathroom, the space doesn’t give you a lot of room to maneuver a queen-sized bedframe measuring at 60 inches wide. Even when you tilt your furniture, squeezing bigger pieces into and out of your home may prove troublesome. You may wind up bumping against the walls to reach your final destination.
As with wall corners, you’ll want to protect your narrow, high-traffic hallways. But unlike corners, you may need a cushion that provides a lot more coverage than a corner guard or a piece of cardboard can provide.
For best results, hang sheets, comforters, bedding, and thick towels along the busiest sections of your walls and hallways. You can secure them with a great deal of painter’s tape, or if you don’t mind a few minuscule holes, you can try a few thumb tacks and push pins to support the weight.
Don’t Forget a Reliable Moving Team
The above tricks can keep your walls looking like new during a move. But keep in mind that these tips may not do you much good if you have an inexperienced crew of family, friends, and neighbors helping you load and unload the truck. Despite good intentions, not everyone has the knowledge, skill, or muscle to handle heavy boxes or bulky furniture with care.
If you want to keep your belongings and your home in good condition, hire a professional moving team to do the job. With the right tools and equipment available, your moving team can make your move as smooth as possible while protecting your walls from damage.
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